The Protector
by Mistress-Ayita
Summary: He is the Protector. She is his lover. This is the story of their love. This is the story of the Last Stand of Hogwarts
1. Introduction

Snow fell on the prettily decorated Christmas Trees planted neatly on either side of the entrance. The sun was shining on the solid iced lake and reflecting off the fine blanket of snow. A few scattered clouds lightened the ocean blue sky as the frosty wind sped through the valley. A mountain, set a bit farther in from the others, held aloft a giant castle housing several hundred people, all students and Professors at the fine school of magic. It was as one would describe heaven.

The castle in it's self was a fortress. It held up against the strong winds and kept the students warm in the winter. For that is what season it was. Hogwarts was the haven to all who asked for protection. It was the most famous school of the time. 

This was the time before the great destruction; before the students were one by one, massacred and slaughtered before the feet of the Dark Lord. Snatched from the comfort of their soft beds and tortured before finally being murdered. Blood still stains the place where over two hundred people fell. All innocent; for that was what the days were like. And after they fell, the story of the Protector's rising was to be retold to all who would listen. The Protector of Hogwarts, to have been locked away for so long was more than happy to fight for all the lives lost. He would be the one who would stand up against all odds and fight with the world of good at is side; every single person's hopes contained in one woman who could help him for she was his lover… she was the Angel. Though they didn't know it, when they met on that fine winter's day, it would be the beginning of the end. The beginning of the last stand of Hogwarts.


	2. The Destruction of the Forbidden Forest

Chapter One

The Destruction of The Forbidden Forest

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Common Room again. Hermione tucked her legs under herself sipped some of the hot chocolate held in one arm. Her other was holding up a book; _'Hogwarts, a History 2: A revised edition about the latest findings in the Castle'. She was wearing her uniform; a grey v-neck jumper on top of a white shirt. Her tie was done up neatly, touching the waistband of her skirt. Her long socks that went up to her knees were touching her skirt barely.Harry looked at the book with minimum interest before returning to the long scroll of parchment laid lazily on the table. He glanced over at Ron, his tongue held firmly between his teeth as he scribbled up to the next foot of parchment with his scratchy quill. Harry felt like laughing; a thing he hadn't done in a long time due to studying for his N.E.W.T.'s he would be doing at the end of the year. Hermione flipped over the page and took another sip of chocolate. It was their last year and already had they almost finished the first term. Halloween had been a success with the Duelling Club Harry had made putting on a performance the school would never forget. He was preparing for the Christmas Duel which was to be taking place on the eighteenth of December, a day before the school broke up for the holidays. It was only four more days to go. The homework Ron and himself were lazing on had been set by Professor Flitwick, the Charms Professor who Harry could have sworn had almost wet himself at the Duel between Harry and Neville. It was true, Neville had grown to be an excellent Wizard, but his skills lied in the knowledge of plants and plant conjuring and destroying spells. Harry had naturally won. The Professor had insisted they did a five foot long essay on the spells they knew and what they did. Harry had almost finished his._

'… And last is Alohomora, a basic spell that can get you out of most locked doors. If used on a person it could have devastating effects if there is bad motivation behind the one using it. To use it normally makes the person open their mouth' said Harry finally, ending the last sentence with a finely printed full stop. Hermione looked at them from behind her book.

'Finally, you finished earlier than usual' she said. Ron looked at Harry's parchment with sad eyes.

'I only have two more spells to write but I can't think of any' he moaned. Hermione shot him an annoyed look before placing her bookmark carefully on the page she was up to and snapping it shut. She leant over and did a quick scan of the spells Ron had written down.

'You forgot Appario and Dencendica' she said after a while. 'You know, the apparating spell and the spell that sends things down through the floor, defying all laws of physics.' Ron kissed her cheek and hugged her quickly.

'I love you!' he said as he scribbled them down. Harry looked at his face. It was glowing bright red. Hermione's cheeks had reached beetroot colour by the time Harry looked at her, and she had opened her book so quickly she ripped out a few pages.

'Oh fuck!' she cried, trying to stick the pages back in by ramming them back into the spine.

'_Dericcio__ Stiktorie' Harry said. The pages flew back to their original place and bound themselves tightly. Hermione looked at Harry gratefully._

'Well, thank goodness we've all finished our homework for the week' Ron said, keeping his eyes away from Hermione's gaze. Harry smiled.

'What should we do then?' he asked. 'I mean, we have the rest of the afternoon off and it's only lunchtime. I'm starving, by the way.' Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement.

'Yeah, me too!' Ron said, getting up out of the soft armchair and stretching his arms and legs. He gave a big yawn and picked up his homework, gazing at it satisfactorily. Hermione got up, brushing Crookshanks off her knees. The cat hissed a little before crawling under the long settee and curling into a ball, ready to go to sleep.

'He's such a darling' Hermione said as she stretched her back. She flexed her shoulder blades a few times before picking up her things. 'I'll just put these away and we can go down, ok?' she said before making her way to the girl's dormitories.

'Sometimes I think that woman rules our lives' Ron muttered.

'We'd better put everything away, though. It's a mess!' Harry exclaimed. He quickly fished all of his things into his arms before placing the rolled up parchment in his mouth. Ron picked up all his things and followed Harry to the staircase.

'No, no! It's all gone wrong!' Neville moaned from the top of the stairs. They looked down. Ink was trickling from under their feet and down the stairs. Harry sprinted up quickly to see what was going on.

'Nevviwe, wa happa?' Ron asked, coming up behind Harry. Dean took the parchment out of his mouth.

'Thank you,' he muttered before turning back to Neville. 'Neville, what happened?'

'It's broken! My homework's ruined!' Neville cried before bursting into sobs. Harry gave him a sympathetic look before running past and throwing his stuff on his bed.

'Look,' he heard Seamus say. Both he and Ron turned to Seamus. He was pointing at the forest through the window. Harry looked. There was an orb of light right in the centre of the forest, expanding rapidly.

'What the hell?' Ron exclaimed.

'I don't know' Harry said solely. 'But I don't like it.'

Both Harry and Ron took off down the stairs, wands held firmly at the ready. Neville was still sobbing but he was on his feet. He'd grown a lot thinner over the holiday, but he was still very sensitive and affectionate about a lot of things. Harry leapt down the last four or five stairs and sprang towards the door. He heard Ron talking to Hermione rapidly as she joined them.

'What is it?' she cried.

'I don't know, but I want to find out!' Harry said. Ron raced on to catch up with him. He got there in seconds. When they were level he started talking.

'So, we're going back into our favourite place again?' Ron asked simply. Harry smiled.

'But shouldn't we tell a teacher? What if it's dangerous? What if it's' Hermione asked frantically. Her Gryffindor scarf had been wrapped around her neck hastily. She threw theirs at them quickly

'Hermione!' both Harry and Ron groaned in unison. They made it to the Entrance Hall in record time, keeping out of Filch's way _and Mrs. Norris's. Harry came to the door first and stopped, waiting for the others._

'Our first mystery of the seventh year' Hermione said as she reached them. 'I was beginning to think it was going to be boring!' Ron gave a hearty laugh and Harry smiled.

'Well, open the door!' she cried. Harry opened the door slowly, checking that nobody saw them exit the school.

'On the count of three, we run' Ron said firmly.

'One, two, three!' he yelled. They all sprinted off in a mad dash down the snow blanketed hill. Hermione sped up, coming level with her two competitive friends. They were all neck and neck by the time Hermione started slowing down, staring at the giant forest with wide eyes. Through the dark trees electricity was lashing violently, striking the trees. The bubble Harry and Ron had seen had disappeared but the scorch marks on the trees were far from invisible.

'Wow' they all said in unison. The whole forest was black. The snow that had carpeted the floor had been piled up in a big ring a few yards inside. It looked like a nuclear explosion. Everything was ruined. Animals of all sorts were dead, lying motionless and black on the floor. Rats and mice, foxes, everything.

'Should we check it out?' Harry asked. They all nodded.

_'Lumos' they said as they entered the forest in single file, Harry at the head, Hermione in the middle and Ron covering the back. They picked their way between the dead grasses, watching out for other animals._

'I wonder how Grawp is' Hermione asked herself.

'Dead, I'd expect' Ron said, gulping.

'I thought he was moved to the Giant's Institute for Modern Language Information' Harry said. He looked back at them.

'Oh, right' Ron said apologetically.

'G. I. M. L. I.? I didn't know they had one in England' Hermione said.

'Shh' Harry suddenly said. They had reached the giant mass of snow. Hermione picked up a scoop and patted it into a ball. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small blue box. She placed the snowball into the tiny box and it fitted perfectly.

'Where did you get that?' Ron asked.

'I'll tell you later' Hermione said as she started climbing up the mound of snow. Harry followed her. Ron was the last to climb, his ears twitching when he heard a snap of a twig.

'Someone's following us' he hissed. Hermione glanced back. She peered out as Harry climbed over the top of the hill.

'Ron, quick,' Hermione suddenly cried. 'There are teachers, students; the whole lot coming this way!' She scrambled up the rest and slid down the other side. Ron followed her quickly. Electricity was striking the floor around them. It was coming from the middle of the circle. Harry strained his eyes to see what was there.

'Hermione, what's that?' Ron asked, brushing the back of his trousers down. Hermione shook her head.

'We'd better find out before they get here' Harry said. They all started through the cleared ground. It took them five minutes to reach the creator in the ground. It was as if something had fallen from the sky. Looking up, Harry saw a burning hole in the roof of leaves. Ron was looking further into the mist they'd stepped into a hundred yards ago. It seemed to clear for a second as Harry looked down. A man was lying naked in the centre. There was a woman curled up next to him. They were in a tight embrace, eyes closed as if they were asleep. They were covered in dirt and ground up earth. The trio looked down in awe.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around to see Dumbledore.

'Harry, I see you've seen our new Hogwarts students' he said, a twinkle sparkling in his eyes.

'Wh… what?' Harry stammered. Dumbledore pushed past him and swept his hand over the bodies.

'Awake, Sheih and Fariel' he announced. The two people moved, their eyes flickering open. Sheih, the girl, jumped up. She crossed her arms over her breasts and blushed slightly. Fariel woke up and crawled backwards up the other side of the creator. Dumbledore whispered some words and some blankets appeared by their sides. They immediately wrapped themselves in the cloth and blushed again.

'Fariel,' Dumbledore said, addressing the boy with brown hair. 'You have been sorted into Gryffindor. Your things have been pre-bought and are lying on the bed in your dormitory. Harry and Ron shall take you there immediately. You will see Madam Pomfrey as soon as you have eaten and slept.' Fariel scrambled up the hole and over to Harry and Ron. They immediately took him away.

'Sheih, Hermione will take you to your dormitory and you will see Madam Pomfrey as soon as you've eaten and slept.'

'Welcome to Hogwarts' Hermione mumbled to the bewildered girl.

'Welcome to the end' came Sheih's cryptic answer as she trotted after her.


End file.
